Humpback Whale Catalogue

This catalogue is a collection of identification photographs of humpback whales seen in British Columbian waters from 1989 to 2007. The majority of the data were collected by the Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Biological Station, as part of its assessments of the conservation status of cetacean species-at-risk. Most photographs and data were collected in known areas of concentration along the coast of British Columbia, including Langara Island, southeast Moresby Island, the northern mainland, and southwest Vancouver Island.

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate between high latitude summer feeding grounds and low latitude winter breeding grounds. In the North Pacific, winter breeding grounds are known in waters off Japan, Hawaii and Mexico; summer feeding grounds are found in coastal waters of Alaska, British Columbia and the western mainland United States. Researchers use photographs of the ventral surface of the tail flukes to identify and track movements of individual whales and to estimate abundance. Patterns of pigmentation, scarring and shape of the flukes are unique to each individual.

Each individual humpback is given a unique alphanumeric identifier. Each identifier starts with BC to indicate that the animal was seen in British Columbian waters. Following the BC is an X, Y or Z, corresponding to the amount of white on the flukes and a number to identify the individual. BCX## contain approximately 0-20% white, BCY## have approximately 20-80% white and BCZ## have approximately 80-100% white. The catalogue is generally arranged in order of increasing white pigmentation. BCX flukes are further arranged into groups of similar appearance, and thus may not be in order of increasing white pigmentation.